I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

─── Pick! Pick!

"Ugh, ugh..."

"...!"@@novelbin@@

Thud!

As two Chinese soldiers, who had been scanning the surroundings with binoculars on the quiet rooftop, fell to the ground like rag dolls, the muzzle that had been resting on the wall of the rooftop disappeared, and the two silhouettes leisurely ascended the roof.

With a soft metallic sound, the two men silently landed on the rooftop. They held pistols in their hands, and the drone hovering above indicated with its gaze that the deaths of the two soldiers were not the end.

Soon, the second metallic sound echoed. This time, the sound of the body falling to the ground was unheard of. The bullet had torn through the soldier’s body, preventing the body from crashing to the ground.

The cigarette ends still smoked in the mouths of the enemies.

"They’re thoughtful friends. They even marked their position to make it easier for us to find them."

"Do you think they knew that the cigarette burn would outlast their lives?"

"Who knows. Those who met these friends again on the River Styx will probably ask them."

Yujin nodded with a somewhat wistful expression, and Olivia quietly secured the path leading up to the rooftop. She hadn’t welded the door shut with thermite since they would need to descend that way later.

The rooftop returned to silence, but Yujin was looking down at the grand scene visible beneath. Just a few hundred meters away, the guided points where enemies were gathered flickered with lights and noise.

The parking lots and gymnasiums, frozen solid in the winter cold, were gradually being covered by large tents. Some armored vehicles had started parking inside tents, the same color as the gymnasium or parking lot.

Surprisingly, the view from a slight side elevation was completely different from the view from the sky.

"...From the sky, it’s hard to tell if this is just a playground or if there’s something more."

"It’s not properly set up yet. If we angle the tents to the side, we’ll need to deploy a proper reconnaissance drone to detect them. Even then, once the engines are turned off and the temperature matches the outside, it’ll be hard to pick them up with heat detection."

• "Tangsso Valkyrie 1-1, currently passing waypoint Papa. Say again."

• "Approach Whiskey, Azimuth 100, 2.5 miles. Altitude 60. Multiple infantry and armored vehicles. FI 154236. Danger close. No exit from the area. All recognized, junior."